My 5100's are definitely NOT rough, and Houston has some seriously **** roads.

 

Sorry to hear about your luck with the Ranchos, did you remove the ***** and put some white lithium grease behind the ***** to keep them lubed and packed to keep out the dirt and salt? My rig doesn't go off road or do any winter driving and my 9000s are going on 3 years old and still adjust fine, I am probably due to regrease them.

 

I agree with that. They are "rougher" riding than stock, but not necessarily rough. You just feel more than the floaty stock shocks. When I first installed them I was concerned that they were too rough. But, after 1000 miles or so they seemed to loosen up and are now pretty comfortable. Not '70s floaty like the shocks I took off, but comfortable.

 

I have Bilstein's on my F350 and just put Rancho 9000's on my 05 rwd Ex. The Bilstein's are good shocks and I wish I had purchased them for the Ex. When I removed the new Rancho's from the box and released the locks I was surprised by the dead space they had in them. They act as if all the air wasn't completely purged before pressurizing. I should have taken the time to make a mount and run them on my shock dyno but I only had a short time reserved to install them. The compression forces feel different from shock to shock as well regardless of setting. The original motorcraft shocks with 100k miles had better compression and rebound characteristics and seemed much closer in force side to side. Additionally the adjusters stick and I doubt they'll work after a few years.

Unfortunately I had them a while before installing and couldn't return them so I installed them to see what they are like. I hated them at first and had to run them on setting 7-8 until last week when I installed a Helwig rear ARB (my Ex didn't have a rear ARB). The overall ride is much better now that the bar is holding the Ex up in the corners (shocks set to 3) but I still hate the rebound which isn't adjustable and too soft.

My opinion is either buy the Bilstein's if you want a firmer ride otherwise buy OEM's. Definitely get the Helwig bar if you don't have a rear ARB regardless of shock selection.

fwiw... My opinion is based on over 20 years of engineering, building, servicing, dynoing and racing with Penske and Olins race shocks in open wheel racing.

 

Did you replace the sway bar endlink bushings, toe link bushings and leaf spring bushings as well? My toe link busings wear faster than anything else on my F350 and make a serious thump.

 

What's a toe link bushing?

 

Ok so the new shocks didn't totally get rid of my rattle. So back to the drawing board for that. Side note. The new shocks on the front don't seem to work???? I can push/pull down/up on the tow hooks to get the front end of the truck going up and down and the trucks just keeps bouncing almost like no shocks are installed. Does it take some time for them to start "working"?
The back shocks seem to work fine.

 

That doesn't sound normal. Was it that way with the old shocks?

 

My Rancho 9000s are doing the same thing. After only two weeks one was already froze up! I was going back and forth between these and the Bilsteins.....Wrong choice!

 

Sorry, my mechanic calls it that but technically they're the front track bar bushings.

 

[QUOTE=1NiceHarley;14758704]Ok so the new shocks didn't totally get rid of my rattle. So back to the drawing board for that. Side note. The new shocks on the front don't seem to work???? I can push/pull down/up on the tow hooks to get the front end of the truck going up and down and the trucks just keeps bouncing almost like no shocks are installed. Does it take some time for them to start "working"?
The back shocks seem to work fine.[/QUO

I experienced similar results. My take is the the rebound is set way to soft allowing the truck to bounce back up. I also wondered if they were working at all. The adjustments seem to increase low speed compression but they also make the high speed compression very harsh therefore trying to increase compression makes the ride quality suffer while not helping with ride stability at all.

I drove my F350 with Bilsteins today for the first time in weeks after only driving the Excursion with Rancho's during the same time period. No question the Bilsteins are SIGNIFICANTLY better. The Bilstein high speed compression isn't any more harsh than the Rancho's but they have very nice rebound and low speed compression characteristics that make the truck handle and ride significantly better.

Have you replaced the track bar bushings?

 

I have a 2-wheel drive Ex like you. I discovered this same phenomenon with my front end after installing new shocks also. I have owned a few leaf and coil sprung trucks in my life. I never "really" could produce the same effect with leaf springs. I am chalking it up to the coils behaving the way coils do when loaded down like the fronts of our trucks are.... the rear of my Ex (leaf springs) is pretty much no movement whatsoever when I jump on it with same brand of shocks.

Good luck finding the "rattle". I have spent too many hours of my life that I will never get back hunting for rattles and squeaks!

James

 

Time for a new mechanic

 

the old shocks did a little but not as bad as the new shocks. I called Rancho and they said they are defective and to send them back. So I am waiting on Amazon to ship me new ones.

 

I have not. Got a picture? not sure what/where those are. Thank you! Remember my Ex is 2wd, isn't the track bar for 4wd's?

I know right! Always something!